Waste reclamation apparatus



E. s. PEARCE wAsTE RECLAMATION APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR Filed Harsh 13., 1929 ZbW/IV 61 P015615- ATTORNEYS Sept. 13, 1932.

E. S. PEARCE WASTE RECLAMATION APPARATUS Filed larch 13, 1929 2 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTO R 501w JPEA/Pcf ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 13, 1932 .IJNITED -STLATES PATIENT oFFlcE Enwrn' s. rEARcE.

SUPPLY 'conronarrou, or

or INDIANAPOLIS, 'INDIFANA,. YASSIGNOR To RAILWAY snnvrcn AND INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION on INDIANA we's'rn' nEcnAMArIoN APPARATUS Application filedlblarch 13, 1929. Serial No. 346,709.

. The invention disclosed in this application relates to apparatus for treating journal box packing for the purpose of renovating it to cleanse it and prepareit for re-use.

The objectof the present provide an apparatus for treating dirty journal box packing wherein the dirty pack ing is subjected continuously, while in a steam filled chamber, to blasts of steam rendering fluid the dirty oil of the packing; for opening up the waste part of the packing by restoring the resiliency to its fibers, especially in the case of animal fibers, and to thereby facilitate the removal of the dirty oil; to break up any undesirable products present in the waste part ofthe acking; to thoroughly cleanse the waste fibers themselves; and .finally, by physical means, to remove at least some of the dirty oil, any moisture entrained with it, as well as lint and other undesirable materials- 1 Another object of theinvention is to dry, bya continuously-operating means, the waste part of the packingwhich has been treated by the steam in the earlier part of the apparatus, the object here being to remove any moisture and further assist in the removal.

of any remaining undesirable materials pres ent in the waste part-of the packing.

A still further object .of the invention is to subject the packing, after it has been previously treatedwith steam'and hot air for cleaning, etc., as above, to the action of hotcleaningoil, preferably in a washing extractor, to still further cleanse "the fibers, further remove the lint and undesirable materials, and give the waste part of the packing the clean appearance of new or unused waste. 0

The inventionis set forth in the following description, drawings and claims.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan View; Fig. 2 isa side elevation; Fig. 3 is an end elevation from the right in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a schematic layout of a plant employing the steaming and drying apparatus; Fig. 5 is a schematic showing of another layout utilizing extractors adjacent the'end of said apparatus, and Fig. 6 is a detail elevation, partly in section, showing an extractor.

invention is to and while still hot,

In the arrangement shown in the drawings 1 representsa long casing provided near the frontend with a feed hopper 2 having a dis charge? above and near one end of a conveyor to be described. Below this hopper and conveyor end and near the bottom of the easing is. a hopper bottom 4 communicating by a pipe 5. with a dirty oil sump 6 arranged in the bottom of the casing. The sump and the hopper bottom 4 terminates short of the rear end of the casing 1 namely, at the point indicated at '7 for a purpose which will appear. \Vithin the, casing above the hopper bottom 4 are a' pair of drums 8 and 9, the forward drum 8 receiving one end of an endless conveyor 10 and the latter drum 9 the rear end. The drum 9 is driven by a suitable pulley 11 driven by a belt 12 in turn driven by a motor 13. The axis of the drum 9 is above the rear partition wall 7 and occupies an opening in this wall. Above this drum 9 is a squeezing roll 14 having bearings at 15 in boxes 16' and which bearings are spring pressed by springs 17 toward the drum 9. This squeezing roll 14 by its cooperation with the conveyor 10 upon the drum 9 is adapted to remove oil and entrained moisture from the packing, said removed oilpassing through the hopper bottom 4 to the dirty oil sump 6. 1

To the rear, of the feed hopper 3 is a par tition 18 extending down into the casing 1 and providing a steaming chamber 19 pro- Vldfid' near its top with a steam supply pipe 20 supplied with steam from the steam inlet 21. This pipe 20 is provided with a plurality of spray devices 22 adapted to'project sprays of steam upon the mat of packing upon the upper stretch of the conveyor. In this way the mat is not only subjected to the steam in the entire casing but is subjected to the direct action of the jets of steam projected upon it.

Beyond the drum 9 and the squeezing roll 14 is a vertical chamber 23 closed at its bottom by trap doors 24 each of which is provided with a counter balance weight 25 normally tending to swing it up toward horizontal closed position.

the trap doors 24 is a conveyor drum 28 re-- ceiving one end of an endless conveyor 29 which extends out through a rear end opening indicated at 30. This opening extends above the conveyor 29 sufficiently to permit the discharge of the packing on the conveyor. Within this opening is a drum 31' for receivin the a jacent end of the conveyor. This rum is driven by a pulley 32 "in turn driven by a belt 33 operated by a motor 34. Above the conveyor 29 and in the lower casin is an undulating ceiling or wall 35 providing domes 36 for the reception of vapors and air. These domes communicate by pipes 37 with an exhaust 38. Into the bottom of the casing 26 and below the lower part of the conveyor is a hot air inlet or supply pipe 39 adapted to project heated air up through the packing and the reticulated stretches of the conveyor and into" the domes 36 from which the vapors may pass out to the exhaust.. In passing upwardly the air agitates and tumbles the packing upon the conveyor, as will be readil understood.

It will be un erstood from the foregoin that the dirty incoming packing is delivere to the feeding hopper 2 from whence it passes on to the upper stretch of the reticulated conveyor 10 which carries it along through the.

atmosphere of steam in the main casing and underneath the steam spra ers, subjecting it to the action of heat an moisture which render the dirty oil fluid, causing some of it to pass out of the packing and ca with it the undesirable materials therein. t also has a tendency to open u the fibers'so that the oil is more free to ow therefrom and carry with it the undesirable materials. It also has the effect of dissolving out undesirable soluble elements present n'the pack-' After passing through this steaming chamber the mat of packing is squeezed by the squeezing roller 14, causing considerable'oil and entrained moisture therein to be removed and collected in the sump at the bottom of the main casing. After having been thus squeezed the packing is delivered u'pon the trap doors where it collects in suflicient .vol-

umeto overcome the efiect of the counter weights and dumps upon the drier conveyor 29 upon-which it 1s carried along toward the discharge and is subjected to a current of heated 'air which agitates and tumbles it and relieves it of all remaining moisture, the packing being delivered in fairly, dry, clean condition to the discharge opening from whence it may be removed and carried away for further treatment or for use.

-The apparatus thus far described is for cleaning t e dirty packing and may stop at this point. Further treatment of the waste 1 part of the packing to better prepare it for i use may be along any desired lines, such as indicated in the plant set forth in Fig. 4, wherein the acking, after being treated as before descri ed, is transferred for oil receiving purposes to any suitable impregnator 40 supplied with useable oil, either renovated or new, through the pipe 41 leading from an oil renovating apparatus 43 of any preferred type, the renovator 43 bein pipe 44 with the sump 6 therefrom. 1 v A still further feature of this invention is 'set forth in the plant lay-out of Fig. 5 where the packing from the steaming and drying apparatus alreadydescribed is delivered to closely associated machines of the extractor type which are adapted to thoroughly wash and cleanse the waste part of the packing aftconnected by a 7 for receiving oil er the steaming and drying operations and an inner perforated'sleeve49 and ada ted to be'supplied'with' oil by a suitablevinlet device receiving heated oil from a pipe. 51 coiled at 52 within a steam jacketed casing 53. This pipe 51 beyond the heater leads to a source of new oil'supply or to an oil storage tank 54 receiving oil for this a purpose from the line 55 connected to the oil renovating plant 43, a branch of thisline 55 being the pipe 41 leading to the impregnator 40. The type of machine above described is that shown in the Bercaw Patent No.

It will be seen from the foregoing that after the packing'has been steamed and dried and while it is still hot from these steps, and before it can collect additional moisture to any considerable extent, it'is subjected to an oil 'washin treatment in an oil washingex tractor whlch-thoroughlywashes the openedup wastepart of the packing and still further removes remaining undesirable material, and

restores to thewaste an oil saturation which may be suflicient to render the waste capable of use in j ournal boxes at this stage.

Afterv the packing has been thoroughly washed by the extractor washers, the supply of heated oil to the washers maybe cut off and the washers allowed to extract the oil and leave the waste part'of the packing in the condition of fiber saturation only and ready to be 'impregnated'with oil by other oil impregnating means.

Having described my invention, I'claim: 1. Apparatus for treating journal box packing, comprising a front treating-chamher and a reartreating chamber, the rear end portion of said front chamber overlying the front end portion of said rear chamber and communication between said chamber portions being provided by an opening therebetween, automatically closing door means 6 for said opening, a journal box packing inlet at the front end of said front chamber and a journal box packing outlet at the rear end of said rear chamber, a. horizontally disposed foraminous conveyor in said front 10 chamber having its front receiving end adjacent said inlet and its rear discharging 7 end adjacent said communication opening, a horizontally disposed foraminous conveyor in said rear chamber having its front receiving end adjacent said communication opening and its rear discharging end adjacent said outlet, whereby journal box packing passed through said inlet onto the conveyor in said front chamber will be carried through said chamber on said conveyor and thereafter passed, upon the opening of said communication opening door means, through said opening onto the conveyor in said rear chamber and will be carried on said conveyor through said rear chamber to theoutlet thereof, means for subjecting the packing as it travels through the front chamber on the conveyor therein to a steaming effect, and means for subjecting the packing as it passes through the rear chamber on the conveyor therein to a drying effect.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, Wherein said door means automatically closes and is moved to open or dumping position by the 3 weight of the journal box packing thereon. 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for subjecting the packing to a steaming effect comprises a spray device arranged above the conveyor and sufficiently close to the packing thereon to subject said packing to direct sprays or jets of steam, as well as serving to fill the front chamber with steam.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein a roller is arranged in said front chamber for cooperation from above with the rear end portion of the conveyor therein, whereby the packing on said conveyor is subjected to a squeezing or wringing effect between the con- 30 veyor and said roller before it leaves said conve or. x

5. pparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for subjecting the packing to a drying effect in the rear chamber includes means for subjecting said packing to drying air currents.

In testimony whereof I hereby afiix my signature.

EDWIN S. PEARCE. 

